What do you like or dislike about Godzilla vs. Destoroyah?

[Maritonic]

Obviously, I am not a big fan of vs. Destroyah... but I know more people than this have to be. While it's nice to see reinforcement of my own POV, for balance in the thread... surely there are many reasons the fans that often put vs. Destroyah in their top 5 like this film, yes?

I do. I love Godzilla vs. Destroyah.

Added in 10 minutes 48 seconds:
I've always loved the score. The grand, literally epic, opening theme (and opening credits themselves).
Destroyah's final form's roar was always very imposing to me. Same with Godzilla's roar; it's one of my all time favorites.
I loved the sense of scale; Junior is killed, Godzilla is now a GLOBAL threat with a meltdown.
Momoko Kochi returning as Emiko was a nice treat, especially her nightmares of Gojira. And it was nice to see repercussions of the Oxygen Destroyer, something Serizawa feared, made manifest all these years later.
I've always understood people's gripes with it, but something about Godzilla vs. Destroyah has always resonated with me.

[Vakanai]

You can recognize a movie's faults and still like it. Godzilla vs Gigan for example is way more fun than any movie with that much stock footage has any right to be.

True, but it seemed most of the comments were about the flaws, I think only one poster mentioned the things he or she liked.

The reason why me and many other people love Godzilla vs. Biollante so much is because it does what a sequel should do, expand off of the original while still telling a unique story. Biollante has good writing, good characters, solid dialogue, a LITTY score, and outstanding special effects. Plus it never felt dull or ever outlandish. Everything felt real and grounded, unlike later entries in the Heisei era.

Doesn't really expand it any more than the other sequels, and I disagree with the writing and characters bit (can't speak of the dialogue since I only watch the dubbed version). The middle east secret agent assassin guy is way too effective it leaves me questioning how he knows and does so much, the psychic subplot and character never clicks with me (although Miki might be the cutest girl in a Godzilla movie ever, definitely top five), and the whole soul of the scientist's dead daughter is in the flower/kaiju thing makes no sense. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie, but it has flaws and it's confusing why everyone holds it to a higher pedestal than other entries.

[Zarm]

For me, the score is excellent, the setpieces are very memorable, the effects are superlative, the pace is excellent, and the mood and tone are very engaging. Obviously, enjoying the characters is a matter of taste- I also find them well-written, though I tend toward the Japanese with subtitles, so maybe that's where the difference lies.

I mean, I'm not saying it's perfect- but to me, each of these aspects easily trumps its other siblings in the series in the same respects. (In other words, even if in aspect falls short, the other films in the series fall shorter, for me). But then, it's my favorite Godzilla film of all time... so not many aspects fall short, for me.

[Vakanai]

For me, the score is excellent, the setpieces are very memorable, the effects are superlative, the pace is excellent, and the mood and tone are very engaging. Obviously, enjoying the characters is a matter of taste- I also find them well-written, though I tend toward the Japanese with subtitles, so maybe that's where the difference lies.

I mean, I'm not saying it's perfect- but to me, each of these aspects easily trumps its other siblings in the series in the same respects. (In other words, even if in aspect falls short, the other films in the series fall shorter, for me). But then, it's my favorite Godzilla film of all time... so not many aspects fall short, for me.

Yeah, I still don't see it. I'll grant a few set pieces like that place with the Godzilla footprint window or whatever it was, but the effects were better in the 84 movie, the pace might be better in the Mothra one, and the mood and tone seemed a little dull to me so I guess that's subjective.

[Zarm]

By setpieces, I'm referring more to the offshore platform confrontation, the military attack in the rainstorm, the army platoon deploying the ANEB from the skyscrapers, the battle to stop the explosives from going off and freeing Godzilla, etc.

Regardless, you asked why everyone holds it in a higher regard. That's the answer, at least from my perspective. That (for some) it does all the things it does better than any other film in the series does them.

BUT, this debate is getting off-topic. Positive points for vs. Destroyah? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

...Or, you know... more negative? I mean, I enjoy reading them, I'm just trying to bring balance here...

[Maritonic]

BUT, this debate is getting off-topic. Positive points for vs. Destroyah? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Your crusade to defend Godzilla vs. Biollante has clouded your vision, my friend. Someone did, indeed, post some positives...

[Zarm]

BUT, this debate is getting off-topic. Positive points for vs. Destroyah? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Your crusade to defend Godzilla vs. Biollante has clouded your vision, my friend. Someone did, indeed, post some positives...

Quite true; I rather meant 'someone else?' It's rather a-whole-bunch-to-one, here, and the outnumbering doesn't seem fair.

[Maritonic]

BUT, this debate is getting off-topic. Positive points for vs. Destroyah? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Your crusade to defend Godzilla vs. Biollante has clouded your vision, my friend. Someone did, indeed, post some positives...

Quite true; I rather meant 'someone else?' It's rather a-whole-bunch-to-one, here, and the outnumbering doesn't seem fair.

Oh, I see. You're pulling the whole "Anyone got anything nice to say?" *Raises hand* "....Anyone ELSE?!"

Haha, I joke. But no, i agree. I'm actually pretty surprised by the lack of love for Destroyah in the fandom. But then again, this is a confusing place sometimes...

[Zarm]

Anyone additional?

That better?

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Anyone else not big on the sudden TV quality the Heisei series suddenly dropped to around Godzila vs. Mechagodzilla II?

I'm in the same boat, the quality is just awful. Everything looks so..... bleh. I still enjoy the films but they well, don't look like a film you would see in the theaters if that makes sense. All the Showa films still had that "grand" film feel to them even in the 70s portion.

I've always had a soft spot for vs Destoroyah , but it's undeniable that so many opportunities and ideas were wasted or barely explored.

[The Baranosdragon]

Honestly, one of my issues with it is how stiff Destoroyah is. It's a cool monster, but it's pretty clear that the suit caused problems for the actor portraying Destoroyah; it's just way too bulky, and it shows. This is a problem in a lot of Heisei flicks (stiff movement) but Destoryoah is one of the most egregious cases, in my opinion.

I like most of the other things about it, though; the soundtrack is awesome, Burning Godzilla is pretty sweet, it was great to see Godzilla Jr.... there were certainly redeeming qualities to this film, even if it suffers form other Heisei Era issues.

[Gojira311999]

I watched the original Japanese cut, and this film is fine. Nothing special, but a better send-off for Gojira rather than Final Wars. It's been a while since I've watched this film.
Likes:
Special effects
Monster designs
Action sequences
Story
Homage to the original 1954 film
Continued continuity of the Heisei timeline
Soundtrack score
Dislikes:
Characters
Aliens ripoff scene
Physic characters (Ties in with characters)
Destoroyah being severely under powered for being born from the very weapon that killed the original Gojira.
Gojira Junior being shoe-horned in to jump start another set of Gojira films. if 1998 Zilla failed, thus removing the emotion from the final death scene.
Gojira not exploding and wiping out everything in Japan, which would've ended the franchise from how it started: with a nuclear explosion.
The other forms of Destoroyah were poorly strung together.
Main characters magically knowing information that would otherwise be hard to catch if presented in a realistic manner.
The military even standing a remote chance on freezing Gojira, thus taking away from the "power" of Gojira.

This film was just there. Much like an MCU, it's alright at best, but doesn't really hit the mark. The characters are bland, the story is fine but not executed well enough, the special effects were good (For the most part), the shameless ripoff of Aliens is inexcusable, Gojira Junior was unnecessary and should've been killed off in SpaceGojira Vs. Gojira. I could go on, but I haven't watched it in a while, going off raw memory here. My opinions may change later on when I watch it again. Return of Gojira 1984 is still the best Gojira film. Either that or Shin Gojira.

[GodzillavsRayquaza]

. I'm actually pretty surprised by the lack of love for Destroyah in the fandom.

From what I remember, there is a lot of love for GvD in the general fandom, for some reason TK just seems to have a greater amount of dislikers of the movie than most sites. Unless the general opinion of the movie, and the Heisei series in general, has just taken a sharp turn in the past few years.

[BlankAccount]

I think we can all agree though, that scene with the Horn Katana cutting through Godzilla was unexpected and cool.

[SuperPawnageGigan]

Like:
The Final Battle
The Sound Track
The Kaiju Desgins
the story

Dislikes:
Godzilla's death
Jr.'s death
Trying to be like a cheesy horror movie

[HedorahGrabber]

I think we can all agree though, that scene with the Horn Katana cutting through Godzilla was unexpected and cool.

Eh, I'm a bit mixed with it.
It is very cool and surprising, but that ability does line up with a criticism I mentioned earlier about the Kaiju and its origin. While it is a cool ability, it just doesn't relate with the Oxygen Destroyer. The reason why majority of Godzilla's abilities make sense is because of how Godzilla came to be. His Atomic Breath, Nuclear pulse, and his meltdown in Destoroyah work because all those things relate to nuclear energy and atomic bombs. Destoroyah's Horn Katana is just a bit out there and doesn't really feel connected to the character's origin. But that's just my opinion

[GojiDog]

What I Liked;

- It serves as a great "bookend" to the series up to that point. The connections to the original film made it feel like an appropriate farewell. Even small touches like having Dr. Yamane's family be the focus again and working in the Oxygen Destroyer again (to that point, the only thing to ever successfully kill Godzilla, unless you could Super Mechagodzilla's short lived and undone victory in 93) were all nice touches.
- One of the best openings to any Godzilla movie ever and it sets the tone for the rest of the film. Godzilla appears out of freaking nowhere glowing red and destroys Hong Kong with awesome music and a fantastic title screen.
- Its a small thing, but is it weird that I am a Super X fan? That was one of those weird connective tissues in the Heisei films that I really liked. I remember being disappointed that there wasn't a Super X-III in Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, haha. X-III isn't as good as X-2 (Fire Mirrors! Lol), but its still a nice call back to earlier films in Godzilla's second series.
- Destroyah is one of the coolest monsters ever designed for the Godzilla series. The final form looks like Satan, and the smaller forms are ugly little monstrosities. He was kind of the 90s version of Hedorah with all the different forms he took and the basic concept that all these smaller organisms combine to form a larger entity. If they ever went ahead and did "Godzilla Vs. The Devil" this is how I'd picture a kaiju version of The Devil to look.
- The Son of Godzilla FINALLY looks like Godzilla! Huzzah! Took us almost 30 years to get to that point, but we finally got a version of Godzilla's son that wasn't either goofy (Minilla), overly cute (Baby), or both (Little). This version looked like the heir apparent to the throne of King of the Monsters, and hey, the kid won against the smaller Destroyahs! Good for him.
- Most of the fights in the 90s were colorful spectacles, usually reliant on beam weapons, so it was nice to see more of a down and dirty feel to the fights in this one. Something like Destroyah spitting out blood after Godzilla attacks him was a nice detail.
- The whole concept of Godzilla being a walking nuclear reactor waiting to meltdown and take the whole Earth with him was chocked full of ridiculous pseudo-science, but they call it Sci-Fi for a reason guys (this movie also has Freezing Lasers, so there you go). What it does is give the film a sense of impending doom and huge suspense as they have to find ways to neutralize or kill Godzilla before that happens. The film feels like it just has a doomsday clock hanging over it.
- Godzilla's death scene is one of my all time favorite scenes in the entire series. It is ALMOST perfect (I'll get into how its not perfect in the dislikes). But the emotional farewell to our beloved titanic icon was very well done, punctuated to perfectly by Ifukube's fitting funeral dirge. And hey there are other emotional scenes as well, like Godzilla mourning his son's demise. Gets me right in the gut every time.

What I Didn't Like:

- As much as I love Godzilla's death scene, I really wish it was done without dialogue. Just let the music and the visuals carry the scene. Having the characters talk over it (whether it be in the original language or that terrible international dub) seemed forced.
- Not all the special effects scenes quite worked, like that bad shot of Destroyah carrying Junior.
- Like I said, I like the designs for the Destroyahs, but the extended jaw immediately made it feel like an Alien knockoff, which they didn't need to do.
- Did we really need to introduce a second psychic character for Miki to pal around with? She just seemed pointless. Miki didn't do much here either, but at least she has emotional ties to Godzilla, Junior, and the story as a whole.

[Spuro]

I think we can all agree though, that scene with the Horn Katana cutting through Godzilla was unexpected and cool.

Eh, I'm a bit mixed with it.
It is very cool and surprising, but that ability does line up with a criticism I mentioned earlier about the Kaiju and its origin. While it is a cool ability, it just doesn't relate with the Oxygen Destroyer. The reason why majority of Godzilla's abilities make sense is because of how Godzilla came to be. His Atomic Breath, Nuclear pulse, and his meltdown in Destoroyah work because all those things relate to nuclear energy and atomic bombs. Destoroyah's Horn Katana is just a bit out there and doesn't really feel connected to the character's origin. But that's just my opinion

It doesn't relate to the oxygen destroyer, but it does relate to Desotoryah's ability to essentially shapeshift. Those microbes he's made up of can consciously combine to form blood, armor, teeth, and even eyes. Developing brand new energy weapons might be a little out there, sure, but hardly anymore than Hedorah's random laser beams.

[BlankAccount]

I think we can all agree though, that scene with the Horn Katana cutting through Godzilla was unexpected and cool.

Eh, I'm a bit mixed with it.
It is very cool and surprising, but that ability does line up with a criticism I mentioned earlier about the Kaiju and its origin. While it is a cool ability, it just doesn't relate with the Oxygen Destroyer. The reason why majority of Godzilla's abilities make sense is because of how Godzilla came to be. His Atomic Breath, Nuclear pulse, and his meltdown in Destoroyah work because all those things relate to nuclear energy and atomic bombs. Destoroyah's Horn Katana is just a bit out there and doesn't really feel connected to the character's origin. But that's just my opinion

It doesn't relate to the oxygen destroyer, but it does relate to Desotoryah's ability to essentially shapeshift. Those microbes he's made up of can consciously combine to form blood, armor, teeth, and even eyes. Developing brand new energy weapons might be a little out there, sure, but hardly anymore than Hedorah's random laser beams.

I always saw Hedorah's eye "lasers" as burning chemicals, the smoke they made was toxic.

Speaking of smoke, everyone remembers Burning Godzilla has smoke coming off, people seem to forget Destroyer has smoke come off of it as well. I see that as expelling Oxygen Destroyer chemicals to breath in our atmosphere and/or a means of slowly terraforming the planet to be more desirable for it.

[szmigiel]

The human side of the story is so bad. There are no character arcs in the human story, they are just there to explain to the audience what is going on with technobabble and half the things they say just turn out to be wrong. Their master plan is to lure Godzilla and Destoroyah into battle in the middle of the 3rd most populated metropolitan area in the world and hope for the best.

Godzilla Vs Destoroyah has some great ideas, but they are executed in pretty much the most lazy and worst way possible.

I wrote up a long review pointing out all the silliness
http://jokercluster.blogspot.com/2017/0 ... la-vs.html